Journal of Brief IdeasDavid Harris and Steven KryskallaScience Hack Day SF 2013

The problem

The quantum of publishable research is too large!

Perhaps five years from concept to publication

Lots of information doesn’t have a publication home (small results, negative/null results, germinal ideas)

Too much science is tied up in people’s heads for too long

How can we make science more efficient?

The solution

More rapid, more open, briefer communication

An open access Journal of Brief Ideas (CC-BY)

Each idea limited to 200 words/one figure

Each idea has a DOI and permanence, so is citable and attributable

Not peer-reviewed but post-publication rated

Like papers used to be 100 years ago!

The platform

Build the functionality of a journal on top of the figshare platform, which provides permanence and DOIs. They have an API through which to operate.

A minimal model involves submission, citation, search

Big issue: Discoverability

Discoverability: How do you find good ideas among all the ideas in the journal?

Multi-prong approach: Rating system, reputation system, recommendation engine

Watch for more!

www.briefideas.org

References:

Journal of Brief Ideas concept. David Harris. figshare.http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.789014

Journal of Brief Ideas platform. David Harris. figshare.http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.789062